Compilation Vol 3 Corrected (1-943).pmd - Goa Public Service ...

personal responsibility due to the superior knowledge and training of the fiduciary as compared to the
one whose affairs the fiduciary is handling. In short, it is a relationship wherein one person places
complete confidence in another in regard to a particular transaction or one’s general affairs of business.
The Black’s Law Dictionary also describes a fiduciary relationship as “one founded on trust or confidence
reposed by one person in the integrity and fidelity of another.” The meaning of the fiduciary relationship
may, therefore, include the relationship between the authority conducting the examination and the
examiner who are acting as its appointees for the purpose of evaluating the answer sheets. We do not
tend to agree with the decision of the Karnataka Information Commission wherein it has been held
that in a fiduciary relationship such as between the examiner and the University, there are obligations
only on the part of examiner and that the authority conducting the examination being not a trustee has
no obligations. Any relationship including a fiduciary relationship is bound to have mutual rights and
obligations. Thus, in the case before us where there is fiduciary relationship between the examiner and
the authority conducting the examination, the obligations are mutual. This relationship does not end
once the evaluation of the answer sheets is complete. The concerned authority has to take care that
by disclosing identity of the examiner, there is no possibility of an eventual harm to the examiner. Thus,
even while disclosing the evaluated answer sheets the authority conducting the examination is obliged
to ensure that the name and identity of the examiner is not disclosed. The authorities conducting the
examination can, therefore, take recourse to the exemptions provided for under Section 8(1)(j). But
applicability of Section 8(1)(j) per-se will not exclude disclosure unless the disclosure is also justified
under Section 8(1)(e). The fiduciary relationship between the examiner and the authority conducting
the examination is personal and it can extend only insofar as the disclosure of the identity of the
examiner is concerned, but it cannot be stretched beyond that point and as such neither Section
8(1)(e) nor Section 8(1)(j) exempts disclosure of the evaluated answer sheets if the authority concerned
ensures that the name and identity of the examiners, invigilators, scrutinizers and any other person
involved with the process is kept confidential.
32. In so far as application of Section 8(1)(j) to deny disclosure on the ground that personal
information which has no public interest is concerned, it is necessary to explain the scope and ambit of
this sub section. Section 8(1)(j) reads as under:
Union Public Service Commission
“information which relates to personal information the disclosure of which has no
relationship to any public activity or interest, or which would cause unwarranted invasion
of the privacy of the individual unless the Central Public Information Officer or the State
Public Information Officer or the appellate authority, as the case may be, is satisfied that
the larger public interest justifies the disclosure of such information.”
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